Tournament information | |
---|---|
Sport | Boxing |
Location | Athens, Greece |
Established | 1975 |
Number of tournaments | 26 |
The Acropolis Cup International Boxing Tournament was established in 1975 by the Hellenic Boxing Federation in Greece. The international amateur boxing competitions were held annually in Athens from 1975 to 2004 and returned after an 18-year hiatus in 2022. It was billed as one of the toughest tournaments in Europe. [1] Jason Lee gethin born 1977 Wales, boxing at featherweight aged 17 in 1996 winning bronze medal at Athens Acropolis Cup, Europe's toughest games.
The Acropolis Cup's early editions saw gold medals won by countries including Greece, Pakistan, Morocco, Belgium, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and Canada. [2]
The first Acropolis Cup took place in 1975, with Greece, West Germany, and Austria winning gold medals. [3]
In 1980, the sixth Acropolis Cup featured a gold medal win in the light-welterweight category for Canadian boxer Ricky Anderson. [4] Other gold medal winners included fighters from England, Greece, Japan, France, and Denmark. [5]
At the ninth Acropolis Cup in 1983, England finished as the most successful country out of the 11 participating, winning four gold, one silver, and one bronze. [6]
In the finals of the 20th annual Acropolis Cup in 1997, Mirko Crocop faced Paolo Vidoz and won a silver medal. [7] Female boxers competed for the first time in the 1997 event. [8]
The Acropolis Cup became an Olympic qualifying tournament in 1999, and its 25th edition served as a test event for the 2004 Summer Olympics. It was held in the Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall in Athens. The 2004 winners included notable Cuban fighters Yuriolkis Gamboa, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Mario Kindelan, Odlanier Solis, as well as Italy's Roberto Cammarelle and Greece's Helias Pavlidis. [9] England's Amir Khan lost in the preliminary round to Mario Kindelan. [10]
Gennady Golovkin fought in the middleweight class at the Olympic test event and lost in the semi-finals. [11] Andre Dirrell won a gold medal at the 25th Acropolis Cup by defeating Cuba's Yordanis Despaigne in the final of the middleweight division. [12]
In 2022, the 26th annual International Acropolis Cup boxing tournament took place at the Panathenaic Stadium. [13] Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Poland, Seychelles, Slovenia, and Ukraine were among the participating countries. [14]
Boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place in the Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. The event was only open to men and bouts were contested over four rounds of two minutes each. Five judges scored the fighters in real time and the boxer with the most points at the end was the winner.
Cuba competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's seventeenth appearance in the Olympics, except for some editions. Cuban athletes did not attend in two Olympic Games, where they joined the Soviet and North Korean boycott. Cuban Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games since 1972. A total of 151 athletes, 97 men and 54 women, competed in 18 sports.
Mario César Kindelán Mesa, best known as Mario Kindelán, is a Cuban former amateur boxer. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, having competed in the lightweight division at the 2000 and 2004 events and defeated world champion boxer Amir Khan to win Olympic gold in 2004. His cousin is baseball player Orestes Kindelán.
Lorenzo Aragón Armenteros is a former amateur boxer from Cuba, who was a two-time world champion in the welterweight category.
Greece has competed at every Summer Olympic Games, one of only five countries to have done so, and most of the Winter Olympic Games. Greece has hosted the modern Olympic Games twice, both in Athens for the Summer Olympic Games, in 1896 and 2004.
The light heavyweight boxing competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held from 14 to 29 August at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. This is limited to those boxers weighing between 75 and 81 kilograms.
The middleweight boxing competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held from 14 to 28 August at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. This is limited to those boxers weighing between 69 and 75 kilograms.
The lightweight boxing competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held from 16 to 29 August at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. This is limited to those boxers weighing between 57 and 60 kilograms.
The featherweight boxing competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held from 16 to 28 August at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. This is limited to those boxers weighing between 54 and 57 kilograms.
The bantamweight boxing competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held from 17 to 29 August at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. This is limited to those boxers weighing between 51 and 54 kilograms.
The flyweight boxing competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held from 17 to 28 August at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. This is limited to those boxers weighing between 49 and 51 kilograms.
Atromitos Football Club, also simply known as Atromitoslit. 'Fearless'), is a Greek professional football club based in Peristeri, a suburban city in the Athens agglomeration, that competes in the Super League. Founded in 1923, club's home ground is Peristeri Stadium.
Vassilis Spanoulis, also commonly known as Bill Spanoulis, or Billy Spanoulis is a Greek former professional basketball player and coach, who was most recently the head coach of the pro club Peristeri Athens of the Greek Basket League, as well as the head coach of the senior men's Greek national team. In the sport of basketball, Spanoulis is known worldwide for his signature move as a player, which is commonly known as "Spanoulis Action", or simply "Spanoulis". Use of the Spanoulis play has become popular in the NBA, and in other basketball leagues and competitions around the world. During his pro playing career, at a height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall, and a weight of 212 lb (96 kg), Spanoulis played as a point guard-shooting guard, and was nicknamed Kill Bill, V-Span, Greek Thunder, and MVP. Spanoulis was named the Balkan Athlete of the Year in 2009, the Eurobasket Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013, the International Sports Prize's World Athlete of the Year in 2013, and the EuroLeague MVP the same year. He earned a record eight All-EuroLeague Team selections and was voted the EuroLeague's 2010–2020 Player of the Decade. Spanoulis retired as the EuroLeague's all-time career leader in assists and total points scored.
Yudel Johnson Cedeno is a Cuban welterweight professional boxer, who is best known for winning an Olympic Light-Welterweight silver 2004 as an amateur. Some sources write the family name Jhonson.
Andre Dirrell is an American professional boxer who held the IBF interim super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal in the middleweight division at the 2004 Olympics. His younger brother Anthony Dirrell is also a professional boxer.
Yan Barthelemy Varela is a Cuban-American amateur boxer, who won the gold medal in the light flyweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Peristeri B.C., or Peristeri Athens B.C. is a Greek professional basketball club that is located in Peristeri, Greece, which is both a city and a suburb in the western part of the Athens agglomeration. The club's full name is Gymnastikos Syllogos Peristeriou K.A.E.. It is a part of the G.S. Peristeri multi-sports club. The club was founded on October 22, 1971.
Greece competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. They were represented by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, which announced on July 28, 2008, the 156 Greek athletes to compete in Beijing, composed of 84 men and 72 women, the largest Greek Olympic team ever excluding the home team of the Athens 2004 Olympics. Greece took part in archery, athletics, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, gymnastics, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, beach volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Boxing in Armenia is a popular sport, that existed in the Armenian Highland since ancient times. Amateur boxing schools in the country appeared in early 1900s, by the mid-1950s boxing became one of the traditional sports in Armenia. In 1956, Vladimir Yengibaryan won a gold medal at the Olympics for the Soviet team. In the early 21st century, professional and amateur boxing in Armenia reached another peak. Most notably Arthur Abraham and Vic Darchinyan won several professional world champion titles. Dozens of amateur boxers have been placed in the top 3 of world and European competitions for various weight categories. Vladimir Yengibarian was among the first individuals to open professional boxing schools in Armenia. The sport is regulated by the Armenian Boxing Federation.
Volodymyr Kolesnyk, also known as Vladimir Kolesnik, is a Ukrainian former amateur boxer, who competed from 1994 to 2001. As an amateur he won a silver medal at the 2001 World Championships, and consecutive bronze at the 2001 Goodwill Games; all in the lightweight division.